Harry's Children's Disease
by Healer Pomfrey
Summary: What if Lily had to take fourteen months old Harry to Hogwarts with a magical children's disease and they had to stay over a certain Halloween night? Completely AU, sick!Harry, child!fic


**Harry's Children's Disease  
**

"James, Harry, it's time for dinner," Lily called her two men, the small one and the big one, knowing that they were going to rush into the dining room, trying to be the first, within the next minute.

However, only James hurried into the room, followed very slowly by his one-year-old son Harry, who dragged himself over to his chair, his lower lip trembling dangerously as he whispered, "No wan."

Lily threw her son a piercing look. "What's wrong, sweetie?" she cooed, causing the toddler to slowly step into her direction, whining, "Mu-my."

"Are you ill, Harry?" Lily asked in concern, worriedly placing a hand on the small forehead, gasping at the heat the child radiated.

"James, he's burning up," she stated, causing her husband to leave his seat and pick the child up. "Put him on our bed; then we'll see what's wrong," Lily instructed James, quickly gathering a Muggle thermometer from the bathroom.

Sitting on the edge of her bed, Lily pulled the child's head up onto her lap and with a few skilled movements gently stuck the thermometer under his armpit, cuddling the child close, before she motioned the child to open his mouth to let her look inside to see where it hurt. Glad that Harry complied, she lit the tip of her wand and peered into his mouth.

"His throat is infected," she stated, "and he's running a fever of 38.8 degrees. James, can you try to keep him cool for a while, so that I can brew a fever reducer for him?"

"Of course," James replied worriedly. He conjured a cool cloth and bathed his son's hot face, lying down on the bed next to the child and cuddling with him until Lily returned with a small goblet thirty minutes later.

"You don't think he's going to take a potion, do you?" James smirked.

"No, this is pumpkin juice, and it should help make him feel better," Lily replied and coaxed Harry to drink the whole goblet full, grateful when Harry complied since it felt soothing to his sore throat. Slightly relieved, she lay down on her own bed, pushing Harry a bit towards the middle of the bed, so that she wouldn't fall out, and cuddling him close, while they drifted off to sleep together.

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Early in the morning, Lily woke up by Harry's whimpering. "What's wrong, sweetie? Are you not feeling better?"

"Toa," Harry croaked hoarsely.

"Your throat is sore?" Lily asked, causing Harry to give her a small nod.

"James," Lily quickly rose her husband, wondering how he could still be asleep in spite of his child's whining. "Can you please take his temperature; I'm going to brew something for his throat. If he doesn't get better, we have to take him to a doctor."

"All right," James replied sleepily, lazily reaching for the thermometer.

By the time Lily returned with another goblet of pumpkin juice laced with a very light pain relieving potion, James was asleep again, while Harry was still whimpering in his arms.

"James?" Lily asked, completely annoyed. "How high was his temperature?"

"What?" James blinked lazily, giving his wife a confused look. "What's wrong, Lily-flower?"

Lily sighed in exasperation, placing the goblet on the night table, before she took the thermometer and proceeded to take Harry's temperature, whispering soothingly to the child as she cuddled him close. '_Who is the child here?_' she mused, slightly upset at her irresponsible husband.

"39.8," she read horrified. "We have to take him to the doctor."

"I'll come with you," James promised gently and hurriedly got up. "Let me just floo-call Sirius and tell him that I'll be late today."

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An hour later, the small family entered the examination room of the nearby Muggle doctor, to whom James and Lily always went when they had health problems that could be solved without magic.

"And who is this today?" Dr. Roberts asked friendly, gently picking Harry up to sit him on the bed.

"I Hawwy," Harry replied hoarsely, causing the doctor to give the parents a questioning look.

"How old is he?"

"He's a year and two months old," Lily replied quickly, musing, '_How can we explain to a Muggle doctor that magical children can talk much earlier and better than Muggle children?_'

"He talks surprisingly well for his age. Now, what's wrong with him apart from the fever he seems to be spiking?"

"His throat is infected," Lily said, "and he is obviously feeling unwell."

The doctor thoroughly examined the child. He then gently took Harry's T-shirt off, piercingly examining his skin, before he sighed and motioned Lily and James over. "He has small pustules all over his breast. They probably only have began to spread right now. I thought it could be the measles, but they look differently. Unfortunately, I've never seen something like that before and don't know what it is. It might be an allergy against something. But his throat is very infected indeed. I'll subscribe you some medicine, which should at least help with his throat and bring the fever down. If it gets worse, you need to come again immediately. All three of you should remain at home in quarantine for the time being."

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Back at home, Lily and James watched Harry's symptoms in concern, noticing that his pustules began to spread over his whole body.

"Maybe it's a magical disease," Lily whispered to James, who was still pondering if he should go to work or take the day off to stay with his family.

"That might be, but it would be too dangerous to take him to St. Mungo's," James replied thoughtfully. "Lily, why don't you take him to Hogwarts and let Madam Pomfrey check on him?"

"We're not students anymore, James," Lily replied uncertainly.

"Well, since you're best friends with McGonagall, why don't you floo-call her and ask if you can come over go get Harry examined? It's not such a great deal."

When Harry's fever rose to 41 degrees at lunchtime, Lily made up her mind and called her former Head of House at Hogwarts, telling her about her problem.

"Lily, step through right now, and then we'll call Poppy over," Professor McGonagall replied gently.

While James headed to the ministry to do some work, Lily took Harry in her arms and flooed to Hogwarts, where Madam Pomfrey was already waiting for them, drinking tea with Professor McGonagall.

The teacher motioned Lily with Harry to a chair, where Madam Pomfrey thoroughly checked on the child, waving her wand at him several times.

"He has the wizard's measles," she said finally. "Lily, did you and James already have the illness? Otherwise we need you to stay in quarantine."

"I didn't have it, and I don't know about James," Lily replied horrified.

"You should be able to check that in your files, don't you, Poppy?" McGonagall threw in, causing Pomfrey to nod.

"Yes. Lily, I should keep you and Harry in the hospital wing for the time being," Pomfrey said softly, giving Lily a sympathetic look. "You may go home of course, if you promise to stay at home because of the quarantine, but it would be better for Harry if I could supervise him."

"All right, we'll stay then, if you don't mind," Lily replied unsurely. "I'd feel much better knowing that Harry was in your hands," she added hesitantly.

"Minerva, you had the wizard's measles before, didn't you?" the Healer enquired, and the professor nodded affirmatively.

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Madam Pomfrey assigned Lily and Harry one of the small rooms behind the hospital wing that were normally reserved for the teachers. Lily remained seated on the edge of Harry's bed trying to make her small son feel better by applying a healing cream on his spots and bathing his hot face with a cool cloth every now and then. Madam Pomfrey had found out that James had already had the wizard's measles, and as much as Lily missed her husband, she was glad that she didn't have to worry that he might get ill as well.

Professor McGonagall came every day after her last afternoon class to keep Lily company and take turns with her looking after Harry, while Madam Pomfrey and even Professor Snape took turns with Lily during the nights.

One afternoon, Lily was just having tea together with Professor McGonagall when all of a sudden a dizzy spell overcame her and she began to shiver violently. She threw the teacher a horrified look.

"Lily?" McGonagall asked and gave her a piercing look, noticing that her cheeks were flushed and her eyes looked unnaturally bright. "Are you going to fall ill as well?"

"I don't know," Lily replied, noticing that her voice was getting hoarse. "All of a sudden I feel a bit ill."

McGonagall gently laid a hand on Lily's forehead and sighed. "I'm afraid so; you're very hot. Lie down next to Harry, while I'm going to get Poppy."

Over the next two weeks, Lily and Harry were both very ill. Pomfrey, McGonagall, and Snape took turns looking after them day and night. They were spiking dangerously high fevers and often had to be cooled down even during the night, they needed their potions and the healing cream for their skin every few hours, and Harry had to get his nappy changed every now and then, because the pustules didn't stop outside his nappy but spread everywhere, bothering the small child a lot.

On Halloween, Harry was finally much better and Madam Pomfrey allowed him to get up for a short while. Seeing that Lily was still very ill with a fever of forty degrees, she suggested that McGonagall should take the small tyke with her to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast.

Harry sat on a child's chair between McGonagall and Snape at the Head table, enjoying himself a lot. He especially adored Professor Dumbledore's beard and silently climbed out of his chair, toddling over to the Headmaster to let himself being pulled up onto his lap, from where he excitedly tried to grab the old man's beard.

"Harry, please stop it; that hurts Professor Dumbledore," McGonagall scolded him in a soft voice, and the Headmaster conjured a light blue teddy for the child.

"Do you like teddy bears?" he asked gently and handed him to the boy, seeing that he nodded eagerly.

"Te-di," Harry said happily and tiredly leaned back into the Headmaster's robes with the teddy in one hand and his other hand's thumb in his mouth.

Snape stood up immediately. "I think he needs to go back to bed; he's still not completely well." He gently took the child from the Headmaster, noticing that Harry relaxed in his arms and drifted off to sleep while he carried him back to the hospital wing.

"Thank you, Severus," Pomfrey said. "He is still running a slight temperature, and it was long enough for him."

"How is Lily?" the Potions Master enquired worriedly.

"Not better yet," Pomfrey replied, pointing her wand at Lily's head to take her temperature again. "Still 40.2."

"Maybe I should try to brew a stronger fever reducer," Snape mused aloud.

"Well, the wizard's measles are dangerous for adults. From now on I'll take all children, who didn't already catch them or are vaccinated against them to St. Mungo's for the vaccination," Pomfrey resolved. "I should have done that years ago," she said sadly.

"Poppy, you couldn't have known, and Lily isn't in danger, is she?"

"No, she will be all right, but it might take a few weeks. Fortunately, Harry easily stays with one of us like tonight. Where did he get that teddy by the way?"

"Albus," Snape replied, smirking.

All of a sudden, the Potions Master gripped his arm in pain and said, "He's calling; I have to go; sorry Poppy, as soon as I'm back I'll take over to look after them."

"Don't worry, Severus; take care, that's what is important," Pomfrey replied, giving him a fond smile.

The young teacher had just left when McGonagall entered the room. "Is everything all right, Poppy?" she asked in concern.

"Severus was called, and Lily has still a high fever; everything else is okay. Shall we have tea?" Madam Pomfrey replied, and the two friends sat down at a small table on the opposite side of the small room.

They were still drinking tea when all of a sudden the Headmaster entered the room, followed by Snape.

"What's wrong?" McGonagall asked immediately, seeing her colleagues' subdued expressions.

"Voldemort went to kill the Potters tonight," Dumbledore explained in a grave voice. "He killed James, and he killed what he believed was Lily, but she was of course only a copy that James had conjured in her place, so that nobody knew she wasn't there. Then he went to kill Harry, who of course was only a copy as well, but the spell backfired and he was hit. But James is dead."

"Are you sure, Albus?" McGonagall asked softly.

"Yes, I went to Godric's Hollow as soon as I heard the news. Hardly anything is left of the house."

"We won't wake up Lily to tell her that; she's much too ill and it wouldn't help Harry if she died too," Pomfrey said resolutely.

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A week later, Professor Dumbledore was finally allowed to speak with Lily and gently told her what had happened. Lily was terrified, and her condition began to worsen again rapidly. Only a month later, her fever slowly began to come down and she started to take interest in the world around her.

Before Lily could even begin to worry what she was going to do without James, Minerva gently spoke with her about something Professor Dumbledore had suggested. "Lily, the Headmaster would like you to remain at Hogwarts and teach Charms. Professor Flitwick wants to take over the History of Magic classes and he wishes for you to become his successor."

Lily gave her former Head of House an unbelieving look. "Is that really true? Charms was always my favourite subject, and I'd love to teach Charms, but what am I going to do with Harry?"

The professor laughed. "You can either take him to class with you or we can take turns doing so, or he can stay with Poppy. She already suggested making a small playroom for him that is connected to her office, where she can watch him over the day."

"Thanks a lot, Minerva; I'm very happy with this solution. When am I going to start teaching?"

"From January onwards, Lily, but first of all you have to get well," Minerva replied, giving her former student a fond smile.

**The End**

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_I'm not a native speaker of English; please excuse my mistakes or tell me, so that I can correct them._

_All recognizable characters belong to __Mrs. Rowling__, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


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